ENVSCI-1392; No.

of Pages 15

environmental science & policy xxx (2014) xxxxxx

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

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Black Sea beaches vulnerability to sea level rise

K. Allenbach a,b,*, I. Garonna d, C. Herold a,b, I. Monioudi c, G. Giuliani a,b,

A. Lehmann a, A.F. Velegrakis c
a
University of Geneva, Institute for Environmental Sciences/enviroSPACE, 7 route de Drize, CH-1227 Carouge,
Switzerland
b
UNEP/DEWA/GRID-Geneva, International Environment House, 11 Chemin des Anemones, CH-1219 Chatelaine,
Switzerland
c
University of the Aegean, Department of Marine Sciences, University Hill, GR-81100 Mytilene, Greece
d
Remote Sensing Laboratories, Department of Geography, University of Zurich Irchel Winterthurerstrasse 190,
CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland

article info abstract

Keywords: Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) aims to promote sustainable management of
Beach erosion coastal zones based on ecosystem and holistic management approaches. In this context,
Black Sea policies have to consider the complex interactions that influence the fragile equilibrium of
ICZM coastal ecosystems. Beaches represent both valuable and vulnerable natural resources
Sea level rise because of the various ecosystem services they provide and their sensitivity to climate
SDI change and sea level rise.
We present the first comprehensive digital record of all Black Sea beaches and provide a
rapid assessment of their erosion risk under different scenarios of sea level rise. Through the
digitisation of freely available remote-sensed images on the web, we provide broad infor-
mation on the spatial characteristics and other attributes of all Black Sea beaches (e.g.
photo-based visual estimation of the sediment type, presence of coastal defences, urban
development). These data have been assembled and stored in full Spatial Data Infrastruc-
ture (SDI) allowing spatial queries, visualisation and data sharing and are therefore
particularly interesting to feed/supply web-GIS portals (coastal atlases) for visualisation
purpose, spatial queries or spatial indicators calculations.
The resulting Black Sea beaches database contains 1228 beaches, with a total coast-
line length of 2042 km with an area of 224 km2. The majority of the Black Sea beaches
have been found to have small widths (61% have maximum widths less than 50 m),
whereas 47% of all beaches presented coastal defence schemes, suggesting an already
serious beach erosion problem.
The erosion risk of the Black Sea beaches was assessed through the comparison of their
maximum widths with estimations of the sea level rise-induced retreat by an ensemble of
six 1-D analytical and numerical morphodynamic models. Following more than 17,000
experiments using different combinations of wave conditions, beach sediment textures and
slopes and 11 scenarios of sea level rise (up to 2 m), the means (best fits) of the lowest and
highest projections by the model ensemble were estimated; these were then compared to
the maximum widths of the Black Sea beaches. The analysis showed that sea level rise will

* Corresponding author at: UNEP/DEWA/GRID-Geneva, International Environment House, 11 Chemin des Anemones, CH-1219 Chatelaine,
Switzerland. Tel.: +41 229178645.
E-mail address: allenbach@unepgrid.ch (K. Allenbach).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2014.07.014
1462-9011/# 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Please cite this article in press as: Allenbach, K. et al., Black Sea beaches vulnerability to sea level rise, Environ. Sci. Policy (2014), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.envsci.2014.07.014
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2 environmental science & policy xxx (2014) xxxxxx

have highly significant impacts on the Black Sea beaches, as for a 0.5 m sea level rise 56% of
all beaches are projected to retreat by 50% of their maximum width. For a 0.82 m sea level
rise (the high IPCC estimate for 2100) about 41% are projected to retreat by their entire
maximum width, whereas for 1 m sea level rise about 51% of all Black Sea beaches are
projected to retreat by (drowned or shifted landward by) their entire maximum width, if the
high mean of the model ensemble projections is used.
Results substantiate the risk of beach erosion as a major environmental problem along the
Black Sea coast, which therefore needs to be taken into account in any future coastal
management plans, as a matter of urgency. As these scenarios consider only sea level rise,
they are considered to be conservative. Although the present results cannot replace detailed
studies, the database and projections may assist Black Sea coastal managers and policy
makers to rapidly identify beaches with increased risk of erosion, valuate accordingly coastal
assets and infrastructure, estimate beach capacity for touristic development purposes, and
rapidly assess direct and indirect costs and benefits of beach protection options. They also
provide the necessary inputs to advance discussions relevant to the Black Sea ICZM.
# 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Mori et al., 2013). Changes in the frequency and patterns of

1. Introduction
Erosion appears to be a major problem for the Black Sea coast
(e.g. Kuleli et al., 2011; Stanica et al., 2011). Beaches, i.e. the
low-lying coasts built on unconsolidated sediments, are
amongst its most threatened coastal environments, with
their erosion driven by: mean Sea Level Rise (SLR) (Shuisky,
2000); extreme storm events (e.g. Trifonova et al., 2012);
diminishing sediment supply from the heavily managed rivers
(e.g. Stanica et al., 2007); coastal development and poorly
designed hydrotechnical and coastal protection schemes (e.g.
Kokpinar et al., 2007; Romanescu, 2013); and river, coastal and
near-shore sediment mining (e.g. Maktav et al., 2002).
Beaches are vital coastal ecosystems and ecological
habitats (e.g. Dugan et al., 2013). They are the first line of
defence against sea flooding of indispensable back-barrier
coastal habitats (Rego and Li, 2010) and very valuable
economic assets and infrastructure (e.g. Kontogianni et al.,
2013). At the same time, beaches are vulnerable to erosion and
inundation (IPCC SREX, 2012). Two main erosion types
contribute to the total risk: long-term, irreversible landward
migration and/or drowning of the beaches due to mean SLR or
negative coastal sedimentary budgets (e.g. Velegrakis et al.,
2008); and short-term erosion, caused by storm surges and
waves, which even if they do not result in permanent
shoreline retreats, can nevertheless be destructive (IPCC SREX,
2012, List et al., 2006). The projected SLR and potential
increases in the destructiveness of extreme events, as well
as intensifying coastal development, threaten to exacerbate
the already significant erosion, with severe impacts on coastal
populations, infrastructure, assets and ecosystem services
(e.g. McGranahan et al., 2007; Peduzzi et al., 2013).
SLR both long- and short-term threatens beaches with
retreat. Since 1900, global mean sea level has risen by about
0.2 m; future mean SLR is, however, uncertain, with the latest
IPCC report (IPCC, 2013) projecting for 2100 a mean sea level of
0.260.82 m higher than that of the 19862005 period.
Nevertheless, other recent studies that are based on alterna-
tive approaches forecast higher rises for the same period (e.g.
storm surges and waves will also cause, at least temporarily,
significant beach erosion/inundation, particularly if such
extremes couple with higher mean sea levels (Tsimplis and
Shaw, 2010).
Coastal zone sustainability is dependent on the integrated
management of the coastal ecosystems. It requires the
collection/collation of varied environmental and socio-eco-
nomic information, robust risk assessments and policies that
can deal with the complex interactions between the natural
and human components of the coastal zone. Beaches are both
critical and sensitive constituents of the coastal system, and
the manner with which we address their erosion problem will
define the future resilience and sustainability of the coastal
zone. This issue has been recognised by the international
community, leading to the development of relevant interna-
tional regulatory instruments. For example, the ICZM Protocol
to the Barcelona Convention identifies coastal erosion as a
critical problem for the Mediterranean and prescribes that
(. . .in view to preventing and mitigating the negative impact of
coastal erosion more effectively, (the Parties) undertake to adopt the
necessary measures to maintain or restore the natural capacity of the
coast to adapt to changes, including those caused by the rise in sea
levels. . . (Art. 23, ICZM Protocol, 2009). It is obvious that the
design and implementation of such measures should be based
on erosion risk assessments and management plans that
reflect the spatial and temporal scope of their employment.
Coastal management and regulation at the basin and regional
scales should be based on assessments at similar scales,
which require the collation and efficient sharing of relevant
information and tools.
The Black Sea coastline is a densely populated and utilised
region that requires integrated and sustainable management
of its environment, development and resources (e.g. Tsereteli
et al., 2011). Management of this zone should not only consider
the present characteristics of its beaches, but also the
potential risks associated with future climatic changes.
However, to date, there is neither an accessible and integrated
inventory of Black Sea beaches, nor an assessment of their
erosion risk at basin scale.

Please cite this article in press as: Allenbach, K. et al., Black Sea beaches vulnerability to sea level rise, Environ. Sci. Policy (2014), http://dx.doi.org/
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ENVSCI-1392; No. of Pages 15
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This study is built around three main objectives. The first is
to build a database of the present geo-spatial characteristics of
the Black Sea beaches, based on examination of high
resolution satellite images freely available on the web, and
to distribute this information using the modern data-sharing
solutions brought by Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) services.
The second objective is to assess, at the basin-scale, the range
of SLR-driven retreat of Black Sea beaches under different
scenarios of sea level rise, using an ensemble of six coastal
morphodynamic models. The last objective is to discuss the
significance of generating and sharing basin-scale informa-
tion on beach erosion, in order to support Black Sea ICZM
policies.
2. Environmental setting
The Black Sea coastline has a total length of 4400 km,
fronting river catchments with a total area of about
2.4  106 km2, a mean elevation of 400 m, an average slope
of 4 degrees and a population of about 140 million (Ludwig
et al., 2009). Its varied morphology comprises both low-relief
coasts found mainly in the northwest and high relief coasts in
the east and the south (Fig. 1). The Black Sea is located at the
margins of the Tethys orogenic belts and comprises an older
western and a younger eastern basin (e.g. Shillington et al.,
Fig. 1 Physiography and annual river sediment supply to the Black Sea coast.
Source: Data from Beek et al. (2012), Jaoshvili (2002) and Mikhailov and Mikhailova (2008).
Please cite this article in press as: Allenbach, K. et al., Black Sea beaches vulnerability to sea level rise, Environ. Sci. Policy (2014), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.envsci.2014.07.014
3
2008). For extended periods during the Quaternary, it formed a
lacustrine environment. The Late Pleistocene lacustrine
conditions ended with the Holocene flooding over the shallow
sill of the Bosphorus Strait (e.g. Esin et al., 2010), which was
followed by a more gradual marine transgression (e.g. Erginal
et al., 2013). The modern sedimentary environments of the
basin comprise both wide and narrow continental shelves
(Fig. 1), canyon-scarred continental slopes and deep sea fans
(e.g. Lericolais et al., 2013).
The relative isolation and substantial freshwater inputs of
the Black Sea have resulted in water column stratification
(Ozsoy and Unluata, 1997), anoxia and methane-dominated
deep sedimentary environments (e.g. Greinert et al., 2006).
The dominant circulation feature of the basin is the cyclonic
Rim Current (Staneva et al., 2001), which transports about
34  106 m3 s 1 of water and sweeps the outer shelves of the
basin with surface velocities of 0.41 m s 1, being also active at
the intermediate and deep water layers (Korotaev et al., 2006).
Hydrodynamics vary in response to the large-scale climatic
variability, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation-NAO and the
East Atlantic/West Russia Oscillation (Capet et al., 2012) and
possibly the Mediterranean Oscillation (Criado-Aldeanueva
and Javier Soto-Navarro, 2013).
The basin precipitation has been estimated at 120
300 km3 a 1 (Jaoshvili, 2002). Evidence of increasing occur-
rence of extreme events in some regions has been presented
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4 environmental science & policy xxx (2014) xxxxxx

(Croitoru et al., 2013). The precipitationevaporation budget is
positive in the south/southeast and negative in the north
(Stanev et al., 2004), with the basin-wide budget being
negative. However, due to the high river inputs (350
470 km3 a 1, see Beek et al. (2012) and Mikhailov and
Mikhailova (2008), the Black Sea has a positive freshwater
balance, exporting mesohaline water through the Bosphorus
Strait (Ludwig et al., 2009).
The Black Sea receives inputs from about 1000 rivers (e.g.
UNECE, 2011). Most major rivers fluxes have decreased
substantially during the past century, due to hydro-technical
works and management. Presently, the river sediment supply
from the 100 largest rivers to the Black Sea basin has been
estimated as 35.541  106 m3 a 1, with the medium- and
coarse-grained, beach-forming sediments accounting for 9.1
10.6  106 m3 a 1 i.e. only about 25% of the total (Algan, 2006;
Mikhailov and Mikhailova, 2008). Considerable quantities of
the river sediments are trapped in lagoons and limans and/or
escape offshore (Panin and Jipa, 2002).
The micro-tidal coast (e.g. Korotaev et al., 2001) shows
variable rates of mean SLR (Kubryakov and Stanichnyi, 2012),
with an average over the basin of 22.7 mm a 1, and relatively
small (less than 1 m) seasonal and wind-driven sea level
fluctuations (Gospodinova, 2004; Stanica et al., 2011; Tsimplis
et al., 2004). Nevertheless, the Black sea coast faces energetic
wind waves which, in some areas, may reach offshore
significant wave heights exceeding 5 m (e.g. Akpnar and
Komurcu, 2012).
3. Methodology
3.1. Beach characteristics/database
A geo-spatial database of the Black Sea beaches has been
assembled, using the images and available information
within the Google Earth Pro application. In the compiled
database, only open sea beaches have been considered.
Beach area is defined as the low-lying sedimentary body
that is bounded on its landward side by backshore natural
morphological features (vegetated dunes and/or cliffs) or
permanent artificial structures (e.g. coastal embankments,
roads, railways and buildings) and on its seaward side by
the median line between the dry and wet coastline shown
on the imagery (Fig. 2). Beaches have been delimited in
length by natural barriers, such as river mouths or rock

Fig. 2 Beach delimitation and beach retreat predictions due to SLR at the Black Sea coast of Sochi (Russia). The black lines
show how the beach area has been delimited, whereas the red line shows the maximum beach retreat projected by the
model ensemble for 0.5 m SLR. It appears that under such conditions, the beach will be shifed backward/drowned,
endangering also the main coastal transport network to Sochi. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure
legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

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ENVSCI-1392; No. of Pages 15
environmental science & policy xxx (2014) xxxxxx
promontories, but not by artificial structures (groynes and
seawalls).
To avoid inconsistency, digitisation has been carried out by
a unique analyst who has followed consistently the above
beach delimitation rules. Beaches have been digitised as
polygons, using the available in the application tool and
exported to a GIS for further analysis. A custom-made AML
(ARC Macro Language, proprietary language for ArcInfo
applications in ESRI software) script was then used to
automatically estimate total beach length and area, extract
beach orientation (in degrees) and, following the subdivisions
of polygons in regular sections, beach width statistics (mean,
minimum, maximum and standard deviation).
Uncertainties in the above approach stem from the facts
that the available remote sensing images are not synoptic at
the basin scale i.e. they have been collected in different years
and seasons (within the period October 2000January 2011).
There are inherent uncertainties, particularly with regard to
the synoptic widths of the basins beaches, due to inter-annual
and seasonal variability and the different tidal and wave run-
up conditions during which these images have been collected
(e.g. Vousdoukas et al., 2009). Therefore, although tidal effects
can be regarded as small due to the microtidal regime of the
Black Sea coast (tidal ranges less than 0.150.20 m, see e.g.
Korotaev et al., 2001; Tsimplis et al., 2004), beach geo-spatial
characteristics obtained on the basis of temporally varying
remote sensing images may introduce uncertainty in their
comparison. Nevertheless, such uncertainty cannot be
avoided when working at the basin scale.
In addition to the spatial characteristics, other information
has been recorded, including: the acquisition date of the
imagery used; the presence of natural (e.g. river mouths,
vegetated dunes, back-barrier lagoons and cliffs) and artificial
(e.g. coastal protection schemes and backshore development)
features; the presence of breaking waves at the image; and an
assessment of the beach sediment texture (e.g. gravel, sand)
on the basis of the available photos on the Google Earth
application. All these have been codified and recorded in an
attribute table that forms part of the database.
The complex and interdisciplinary nature of ICZM requires
improved procedures on information, data and model ex-
change, as difficulties associated with data accessibility and
compatibility are often encountered by scientists, researchers,
decision-makers and the general public with negative effects
on the efficient mining/exploitation of the available informa-
tion (Bernard and Craglia, 2005; Vandenbroucke, 2010).
Therefore, the concept behind the development/use of Spatial
Data Infrastructures (SDIs) has been to collate information
from many different sources and to share it with the widest
possible group of potential users. SDIs were developed to
facilitate and coordinate the sharing of geospatial data,
encompassing data sources, systems, network linkages,
standards and institutional issues, by providing a suite of
services for data publishing, discovering, gathering and
facilitating their integration (Nebert, 2005). An SDI fundamen-
tal quality must be its interoperability, i.e. the ability of
different systems/components for effective information ex-
change (Open Geospatial Consortium, 2004). It offers the
possibility to widely and effectively exchange institu data, to
maximise their value and their reuse, but also promote the
Please cite this article in press as: Allenbach, K. et al., Black Sea beaches vulnerability to sea level rise, Environ. Sci. Policy (2014), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.envsci.2014.07.014
5
exchange of information with other interoperable systems.
These interactions promote the creation of new knowledge,
emerging from relationships that were not previously envi-
sioned. A suite of standards to search, discover and access
heterogeneous geospatial resources were developed by the
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) (Giuliani and Gorgan, 2013;
Giuliani et al., 2013). Resources can be visualised as maps
through the Web Map Service (WMS) standard (Open
Geospatial Consortium, 2006a,b), while vectors and raster
data can be accessed via the Web Feature Service (WFS) (Open
Geospatial Consortium, 2005) and the Web Coverage Service
(WCS) (Open Geospatial Consortium, 2006a,b). Finally, proces-
sing algorithms can be shared through the Web Processing
Service (WPS) (Open Geospatial Consortium, 2007a,b).
Regarding metadata documentation, data and services
should be described according to the ISO standards 19115
(resource metadata), 19139 (metadata encoding) and 19119
(service metadata) of the International Organisation for
Standardisation (ISO). The OGC Catalogue Service for the
Web (CSW) specification (Open Geospatial Consortium,
2007a,b) complements the ISO standards, by defining an
interoperable interface to publish, search and query metadata.
Consequently, SDI interoperability not only facilitates a wide
and effective data exchange/use between different institu-
tions, but also provides for information exchange with other
interoperable systems.
The Black Sea beaches database provides, for the first time,
a complete record of the Black Sea beaches in a freely available
and standardised format. It is available through the following
links for:
Data visualisation with WMS: http://envirogrids.grid.u-
nep.ch:8080/geoserver/eg_BSbeaches/BlackSea_beaches/
ows?service=WMS&request=GetCapabilities
Data download with WFS: http://envirogrids.grid.u-
nep.ch:8080/geoserver/eg_BSbeaches/BlackSea_beaches/
ows?service=WFS&request=GetCapabilities
Metadata (ISO and CSW): http://envirogrids.grid.u-
nep.ch:8080/geonetwork/srv/en/main.home?id=224
3.2. Beach retreat predictions due to sea level rise
Estimations of the SLR-induced retreat of the Black Sea
beaches have been obtained through the application of an
ensemble of six 1-D analytical and numerical models (Bruun,
1988; Dean, 1991; Edelman, 1972; Leontyev, 1996; Roelvink
et al., 2010) and SBEACH (Larson and Kraus, 1989). The Bruun
(1988) model is a widely used (e.g. Hinkel et al., 2009) analytical
model that estimates the long-term coastal retreat referred
hereafter as S under a SLR a on the basis of the concept of
equilibrium profile (Cooper and Pilkey, 2004; Zhang et al.,
2004); its results are controlled by the height of the beach face
and the distance between the coastline and the beach closure
depth (Komar, 1998). Edelmans (1972) analytical model can
deal also with temporally variable sea level changes, estimat-
ing beach retreat using the initial height of the beach face, the
water depth at wave breaking and the surf zone width,
whereas the Deans (1991) analytical model estimates beach
retreat on the basis of the water depth at wave breaking, the
height of breaking waves and the surf zone width. The
SBEACH model (Larson and Kraus, 1989) is a bottom-up
ENVSCI-1392; No. of Pages 15
6 environmental science & policy xxx (2014) xxxxxx
morphodynamic model, consisting of combined hydrodynam-
ic and sediment transport modules and containing detailed
descriptions of the wave transformation and sediment
transport in the coastal zone; sediment transport is controlled
by the wave energy flux and the beach slope, whereas the
sediment continuity equation is addressed by a finite differ-
ence scheme and a stairstep beach profile discretization.
The numerical model based on the Leontyev (1996) algorithms
uses the energetics approach (Battjes and Janssen, 1978), with
the wave energy balance in the cross-shore direction
controlled by the wave propagation angle and the wave
energy and its dissipation; sediment transport rates are
estimated separately for the surf and swash zones. Finally,
the XBeach model (Roelvink et al., 2010) is an open-source,
widely used numerical model of the near-shore processes
intended to estimate the effects of time-varying storm
conditions (e.g. Roelvink et al., 2009; Vousdoukas et al.,
2011); it contains a time-dependent wave action balance
solver and allows for variation of the wave action over time
and over the directional space. In the present contribution, all
numerical models have been used in their 1-D modes.
Coastal erosion/retreat due to SLR is controlled by the wave
energy, as this influences beach sediment transport, the
distance of the wave breaking and the closure depth from the
coastline and the width of the surf zone. In order to assess the
range of coastal retreat at the basin scale, different combina-
tions of wave conditions must be examined. Therefore,
experiments were carried out using different plausible
combinations of wave conditions i.e. waves with heights H
of 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 m and with periods T from 3 to 12 s.
Likewise, in order to address the beach sediment texture and
slope variability along the basins coastline, experiments were
carried out for combinations of 7 different median (d50) grain
sizes (d50 of 0.2, 0.33, 0.50, 0.80, 1, 2 and 5 mm), 5 different
linear profile slopes (beach slopes of 1/10, 1/15, 1/20, 1/25 and
1/30) and 11 SLR scenarios (0.10, 0.15, 0.22, 0.30, 0.40, 0.50, 0.75,
1, 1.25, 1.50 and 2 m). It should be noted that the results of the
analytical models (Bruun, 1988; Dean, 1991; Edelman, 1972) are
independent of the beach sediment size.
Experiments were carried out for all morphological,
sedimentological and forcing combinations (about 17300
experiments), and the means (best fits) of the lowest and
highest projections by all the 6 models of the ensemble were
estimated. The approach has been simplified using a custom-
made Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool (for details, see
Chatenoux et al., 2012) that is also accessible on-line.1
The adopted approach for assessing the reduction of the
beach widths under different forcings and sea level rises has
been based on the following proposition. As different models
have differential sensitivity to the controlling environmental
factors, an ensemble approach may provide more reliable
prediction ranges than the individual models. Although
the scope of application of the 3 analytical models of the
ensemble is primarily for long term SLR, whereas the 3
numerical models have been designed to project morphody-
namic changes under short-term sea level changes, their use
in an ensemble format can provide estimations of the ranges
1
http://www.grid.unep.ch/index.php?option=com_content&-
view=article&id=47&Itemid=253&lang=en&project_id=204F6705.
Please cite this article in press as: Allenbach, K. et al., Black Sea beaches vulnerability to sea level rise, Environ. Sci. Policy (2014), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.envsci.2014.07.014
of beach retreat under both short and/or long term SLR. In our
study, results from all models have equal weighing in the
ensemble projected ranges of beach retreat. These ranges
have been used to forecast maximum and minimum horizon-
tal beach retreat under long- and short-term SLR.
4. Results
4.1. Beach characteristics
The database of the Black Sea beaches contains 1228 beaches,
with a total shoreline length of 2042 km, which represents
approximately half of the Black Sea coastline, and an area of
224 km2. The majority of the Black Sea beaches have relatively
small widths (61% of the beaches have maximum widths less
than 50 m), with only 8% showing maximum widths in excess
of 100 m (Fig. 3). Beach sediment texture has been found to be
variable, with coarse and medium sediments observed in
about 35% of the beaches. Turkey scores the longest shoreline
with 672 kilometres principally composed of small beaches,
77% of the 679 recorded beaches have a shoreline smaller than
1 km. Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia have about half beaches
with a shoreline under 1 km, while less than a third are
recorded in Georgia and Romania (Fig. 3).
The Black Sea beaches and surrounding environments
have been summarised into 17 classes (such as vegetation and
sand mixture, grass vegetation, shrub vegetation, tree vegeta-
tion, buildings, roads, walls, sea walls and revetments, dunes,
dunes with vegetation, vegetation on steep slope), with about
12% fronting hilly landscapes or urbanised areas, 9% fronting
vegetated areas and only 1% baked by dunes. However, a
single beach may be ascribed to several classes, and 64% of the
beaches have a composite denomination.
Results show that less than a third (32%) of the Black Sea
beaches can be regarded as natural open sea beaches, with
Georgia having the greatest proportion of such beaches. 47% of
beaches were observed to be artificially protected by varying
shore protection schemes, such as groynes, breakwaters,
seawalls, revetments and training walls, whereas about 21% of
the beaches were found to be protected by natural features
(Fig. 3). However, the above distribution varies along the
coastlines of the different Black Sea States. Russian beaches
are the most protected by artificial structures (60%), followed
by the Romanian (51%), Bulgarian (46%), Ukrainian (45%),
Georgian (37%) and Turkish (32%) beaches. Beaches partially
protected by coves are dominant in Bulgaria (35%) and Turkey
(30%).
The fact the almost half (47%) of the Black Sea beaches are
associated with artificial coastal protection schemes suggests
that there is already a considerable beach erosion problem.
Considering that the efficiency of these protection schemes is
already in doubt in several areas (e.g. Kosyan and Yesin, 1997;
Romanescu, 2013), beach erosion aggravation due to SLR is
likely to exacerbate the already significant impacts on coastal
ecosystems, communities and infrastructure (e.g. Gospodi-
nova, 2004; Kuleli et al., 2011), particularly in the neighbour-
hood of inlets; in these areas, the increase in the
accommodation space that will be induced by the SLR will
reduce the river sediment supply to the open coast and thus,
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environmental science & policy xxx (2014) xxxxxx 7

Fig. 3 Characteristics of the Black Sea beaches (a) mean width; (b) maximum width; (c) beach sediment texture and (d)
beach protection schemes (for the definition of terms refer to US Army Corps of Engineers, 1984 and www.coastalwiki.org).
National beach statistics; (e) number of beach recorded, (f) total length shoreline in kilometres, (g) median length shoreline
in metres, (h) mean length shoreline in metres, (i) percentage of beaches with a shoreline smaller than 1 km.

aggravate further the present beach erosion (Ranasinghe et al.,
2013).
4.2. Projections of beach retreat
Modelling results show that SLR will result in coastal retreats
that will be accompanied by significant morphological
changes (Fig. 4), particularly close to the coastline. The
different models results varied for most tested conditions,
showing also significant ranges, as expected by the varied
morphological, hydrodynamic and sedimentological forcings
used. Generally the six models showed differential sensitivity
to forcing, which supports the value of an ensemble approach.
The Bruun (1988) model provided the narrowest range of
results, whereas the bottom-up numerical models (i.e. the
SBEACH, Leontyev and XBeach models) produced relatively
large ranges. Beach retreats were found to be mostly
controlled by the beach type (e.g. dissipative or intermediate
sloped-beaches, see Komar (1998)). In order to assess the
effects of the beach typology on coastal retreat, the Iribarren
number (j) was used (j = b/(H0/L0)1/2) where b is the beach slope
and Ho and Lo the offshore wave height and length,
respectively. With the exception of the Bruun model, the
results of which are independent of j for linear profiles, it was
found that coastal retreat decreases (as expected) with
increasing j. Beach retreat ranges also increase with the
decrease of j, i.e. for beaches with milder slopes and/or waves
with increased steepness (H0/L0).
Generally, all model results have been found to be very
sensitive to beach slope, with the most sensitive being the
Edelman and SBEACH models and the least sensitive the
XBeach model. Beach retreat also appears to increase with
offshore wave height. Most of the models (with the exception
of the Bruun model) appear to be sensitive to wave conditions,
with a positive relationship between wave height and beach
retreat; XBeach appears to be the most sensitive and the
Leontyev the least sensitive model to the wave climate. The
SBEACH and Dean models showed similar sensitivity to wave
climate, whereas the sensitivity of the Edelman model
increases with SLR.
As rising sea levels are likely to be accompanied by
reductions in wave dissipation and intensifications in the
mean and extreme wave conditions (IPCC SREX, 2012), the
positive correlation between offshore wave height and beach

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Fig. 4 Examples of the morphodynamic changes for the upper part of the beach (initial) profile on the basis of the cross-
shore ensemble modelling for SLR of 0.82 m, showing significant changes for the initial beach profile. (a) Offshore (at 20 m
water depth) wave height H and period T, 2 m and 6 s, respectively, linear beach profile with 1/20 slope and median (d50)
sediment grain size of 2 mm; (b) offshore (at 20 m water depth) wave height H and period T, 4 m and 8 s, respectively, linear
profile with 1/15 slope and median (d50) sediment grain size of 5 mm. In both cases, the origin of X axis is at 20 m water
depth.

retreat suggests increased risk of beach erosion. Finally, the (Fig. 5 and Table 1), the effects would not be severe; few
effect of the sediment texture was not always clear in the beaches (about 18% of the total) retreat by up to 20% of their
numerical modelling results, although a weak trend showing a maximum width. However, on the basis of the high mean
decrease in coastal retreat with the increase in the median predicted by the modelling, effects would be considerable,
grain-size of the beach sediments was found.
The above modelling results were used to estimate the
ranges of SLR-induced retreat of the Black Sea beaches. As the
environmental characteristics vary for each beach, the means
(best fits) of the lowest and highest predictions for all
morphological, sedimentological and forcing combinations
by all models of the ensemble were used (Fig. 5). This approach
enables reasonable assessment of potential ranges of beach
retreat under marine forcing (i.e. sea levels and waves) on the
basis of minimal environmental information. It provides
ranges (maximum and minimum) of the horizontal excursion
of cross-shore beach retreat that can be then compared to the
maximum widths of the Black Sea beaches that have been
determined by the remote sensing imagery and stored in the
database (see Section 3.1).
On the basis of these ranges, the potential erosion of the
Black Sea beaches has been estimated for three SLR scenarios, Fig. 5 Range of results for all the different beach slopes,
i.e. for rises of 0.5, 0.82 and 1 m that represent the approximate wave conditions, median (d50) sediment sizes and SLR
mean and the high estimates of the mean SLR of IPCC (2013) for examined (see text). The best fits (means) for the high and
2100, and a widely quoted by other sources (Jevrejeva et al., low prediction ranges of the model ensemble (yellow
2010) mean SLR. The projections suggest that rises of 0.5, 0.82 stippled lines) are also shown. The best fit for the lowest
and 1 m will result in significant cross-shore retreats, with predictions from all models is given by S = 0.2 a2 + 8.55
significant implications for the Black Sea beaches (Table 1). a S 0.26 (R2 = 0.99) and the best fit for the highest
Even a moderate mean SLR (0.5 m) results in retreats predictions by S = S0.04 a2 + 31.75 a + 5.57 (R2 = 0.99),
between 4.1 and 21.4 m, whereas the retreats for higher mean where S is the beach retreat and a is the SLR. As the
SLR are much higher (Table 1). Comparison of the modelling XBeach results for very small sea level increases showed
projections with the spatial characteristics of the Black Sea some instabilities, these have not been included in the
beaches shows that considerable erosions should be expected. estimations. (For interpretation of the references to color
In the case of a SLR of 0.5 m, the analysis shows that, on the in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web
basis of the low mean predicted by the ensemble modelling version of this article.)

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Table 1 Projections of the maximum and minimum cross-shore beach retreats (in m) on the basis of the best fits for the
lowest and highest predictions from all 6 models of the ensemble (see also Fig.5 and its caption). Beach retreat and/or
width loss percentages have been estimated through the comparison of minimum and maximum retreat projections with
the maximum beach width of all Black Sea beaches.
SLR Ensemble Beach Beach retreat Beach retreat Beach retreat
scenarios prediction retreat equal to equal to 50% equal to 20%
(m) (m) the max. of the max. of the max.
width (%) width (%) width (%)
0.5 Min 4.1 0 0.3 17.8
0.5 Max 21.4 20.6 55.9 92.3
0.82 Min 6.9 0.1 4.8 46.4
0.82 Max 31.6 40.9 75.7 97.6
1 Min 8.5 0.3 11.5 55.9
1 Max 37.3 51.1 81.9 98.9

with more than 90% of the beaches retreating by 20% and
about 56% by 50% of their maximum width; about 21% of all
beaches retreat (lost or shifted landward) by their entire
maximum width (Table 1 and Figs. 6 and 7).
For a SLR of 0.82 m (the high estimate of IPCC (2013) for
2100) the effects are relatively small if the low mean of the
modelling projections is used, with about 46% of the beaches
projected to retreat by up to 20% of their maximum widths.
However, if the high mean of the predictions is used, then the
effects are considerable, as about 76% of the Black Sea beaches
are projected to retreat by about 50% of their maximum
widths, and about 41% of all beaches retreat by their
maximum width (Fig. 6). Finally, a 1 m SLR has catastrophic
consequences, with about 51% of the beaches projected to
retreat by their entire maximum width (lost or shifted
landward), if the high mean of the model ensemble projections
is used (Table 1 and Fig. 6). It should be noted that projections
on the basis of the low mean of the model ensemble
projections refer to steep gravel beaches that are subjected
to very low wave energy and, thus, are likely to be considerable
underestimations.
Figs. 6 and 7 show the beach retreats along the coasts of the
different Black Sea states. It appears that the beaches of all
States are under significant erosion risk, but this is going to be
higher for the Turkish and Russian, as well as for the eastern
Crimean beaches. This is due to the fact that many of these
beaches are characterised by small widths as they front the
high relief Anatolian, Caucasus and E. Crimean hinterland.

Fig. 6 Maximum retreat of Black Sea beaches for sea level rises of (a) 0.50 m, (b) of 0.82 m and (c) 1 m estimated on the basis
of the high mean of the 6 model ensemble projections. Final widths values less than zero show beaches that will retreat
(lost or shifted landward) by their entire maximum width). Beach ID progresses clockwise from the TurkishBulgarian
border. Beaches with data base IDs 185 and 804 are not shown, as their maximum widths are beyond the figure scale
(>350 m).

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Fig. 7 Maximum beach retreat (in percentage of the maximum beach width) predicted by the model ensemble for the Black
Sea beaches under a 0.5 m SLR. Coastal erosion at the Georgian coast near the city of Batumi (inset), which is projected to be
already moderate/severe under a SLR of 0.5 m, will probably be exacerbated due to the diminishing sediment supply caused
by the constructed/planned dams along the Chorokhi river, which is the main supplier of coastal sediment in this part of
the Georgian coast (Iashvili, 2006; Klaphake and Scheumann, 2011).

As the ensemble contains equally weighed results by
models that can deal with the effects of storm events (i.e. the
SBEACH, Leontyev and XBeach models), the above projections
might be also used to assess effects of storm-generated surges
and/or effects of combined mean seal level and storm surge
rise. Therefore, beach retreats such as those projected in the
present study may occur (temporarily) much earlier than 2100.
Finally, the above results are considered to be conservative,
as they refer only to the effects of SLR without taking into
account impacts from the diminishing coastal sediment
supply (e.g. Mikhailov and Mikhailova, 2008; Stanica et al.,
2011), the increased vulnerability of particular coasts, such as
those associated with inlets, limans and lagoons (e.g.
Buynevich, 2007; Ranasinghe et al., 2013) and the effects of
storm groups (e.g. Vousdoukas et al., 2012a).
5. Discussion
The present study represents a first attempt to record all Black
Sea beaches and provides a rapid assessment of their erosion
risk in response to different SLR scenarios (see also Velegrakis
et al., 2009). It is important to state that the completeness/
accuracy of the information recorded in the Black Sea beach
database is subject to certain constraints. For instance, the
completeness of the inventory was limited by the availability
of usable satellite images, i.e. images in which beach view was
not obstructed by the presence of clouds or hidden by coastal
cliff shadows. Errors in beach delimitation (visually estimated
at approximately 2 m), the lack of precise projections that
may result in shifts of about 20 m between different images
(causing severe offsets when these images refer to the same
beach) are undoubtedly sources of potential inconsistencies.
In addition, the available remote sensing images are not
synoptic at the basin scale i.e. they have been collected in
different years and seasons (within the period October 2000
January 2011) and during different tidal and wave run-up
conditions (e.g. Vousdoukas et al., 2009). Therefore, al-
though tidal effects can be regarded as small due to the
microtidal regime of the Black Sea coast (tidal ranges less
than 0.150.20 m, see e.g. Korotaev et al. (2001) and Tsimplis
et al. (2004)), beach geo-spatial characteristics obtained on
the basis of temporally varying remote sensing images may
introduce uncertainties in their comparison. Nevertheless,
such uncertainties cannot be avoided when working at the
basin scale.

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With regards to the beach retreat projections, the approach
adopted in the estimation of SLR-induced reduction in beach
width has been based on the following proposition. As
different models have differential sensitivity to the controlling
environmental factors, their common (ensemble) application
can provide more reliable prediction ranges than the individ-
ual models. These ranges have been used to forecast beach
exposure to SLR on the basis of the horizontal beach spatial
characteristics (e.g. beach width and area) and the extent of
human development, parameters that could be easly defined
by available, web-based, remote-sensed beach imagery.
Consequently, the methodology has not been limited by the
availability of information concerning beach morphology (e.g.
bed slope), sediments and wave regime (e.g. McLeod et al.,
2010), as the range estimations of beach retreat are based on
numerous combinations of these parameters.
Nevertheless, there are also constraints. First, predictions
are based on the assumption that beaches comprise a
sediment reservoir, with no lateral and/or offshore sediment
losses. Cross-shore modelling cannot resolve such issues
because detailed 2-D and/or 3-D morphodynamic modelling
are required that will be based on detailed information on
morphology, sedimentology and hydrodynamics and trained/
validated by appropriate field observations. Secondly, the
approach does not account for other erosion controlling
factors, such as geological controls, coastal sedimentary
budgets, the presence of inlets, extreme event duration and
sequencing (e.g. Corbella and Stretch, 2012; Ranasinghe et al.,
2013) and the presence of artificial beach protection schemes
and of protecting near-shore ecosystems (e.g. Vousdoukas
et al., 2012b). Against this background, the present results may
underestimate beach retreat, as well as the inundation
exposure of the Black Sea beaches. However, as has been
stated earlier, the aim of the present approach is not to replace
detailed beach monitoring and modelling studies (Nicholls
et al., 2013), but rather to provide a rapid assessment of the
potential ranges of retreat of the Black Sea coast under
different scenarios of SLR.
Amongst the plethora of potential applications, the
database and beach erosion projections could serve Black
Sea coastal managers and policy makers to: rapidly identify
beaches with increased risk of erosion; valuate accordingly
coastal assets and infrastructure (Parsons and Powel, 2001);
estimate beach capacity for touristic development purposes
(Yang et al., 2012); and rapidly assess direct and indirect costs
and benefits of beach protection schemes, including beach
nourishment schemes (e.g. Van Rijn, 2011; Hinkel et al., 2013)
Both beach characteristics, as well as beach erosion
projections, can be easily accessible on GIS software (e.g.
Fig. 7), providing an overview of the beach erosion problem of
the Black Sea coast. It forms a part of a developing Spatial Data
Infrastructure (SDI) for the Black Sea which, through data and
tool sharing, will avoid duplication of work and optimise the
use of funds and resources; this approach was chosen/
promoted by both the FP-7 EnviroGRIDS (Lehmann et al.,
2014) and PEGASO (Breton et al., 2012) projects, in order to
provide an easy and interoperable access to geospatial data
and services. The Black Sea SDI, which aims to provide
standardised geo-information and services from various
suppliers, will allow seamless continuation of coastal zone
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11
research in the Black Sea. It will also provide the necessary
inputs to advance discussions relevant to the integrated
coastal zone management (ICZM) of the Black Sea and can act
as a bridge between scientists, policy makers and stake-
holders; by making useful information easily available and
comprehensible will assist in the formulation and implemen-
tation of ICZM regulation.
Despite not diminishing the need for precise ground
observations, the database presented in this paper represents
an important step forward in providing a much-needed
synoptic record of the geo-spatial characteristics of the Black
Sea beaches. The data made available are especially conve-
nient to feed web-GIS portals (i.e. coastal atlases) for
visualisation purpose, spatial queries, or spatial indicators
calculations. For instance, two examples of coastal atlases
using digital beach datasets are: the Washington State Coastal
Atlas which allows the user to map public beaches giving
information on facilities and possible activities, but also alert
on swimming beach closures (https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/
coastalatlas/default.aspx); and the NIWA (National Institute
of Water and Atmospheric Research) coastal explorer which
provides a beach report card including classification of beach
type, photos and information on water and use safety (https://
www.niwa.co.nz/node/105652) and a coastal sensitivity index
for coastal change and inundation (https://www.niwa.co.nz/
coasts-and-oceans/nz-coast/coastal-explorer/sensitivity-in-
dex).
In the future, such data may become fully dynamic through
the use of SDIs. This enables the update, correction and
integration of both remotely sensed and ground information
(provided that there would be a rigorous quality control). With
the increasingly widespread use of smartphone and tablet,
crowdsourcing initiatives could even be envisaged to improve
validation and maintenance of attributes of such datasets
(Fienen and Lowry, 2012).
Regulation development and implementation i.e. the
introduction of appropriate policy and regulatory instruments
is the main tool for governments and regional organisations to
manage assets and economic activities at risk and decrease
costs for their protection and rehabilitation. In these aspects,
the region shows good progress at national level since 2004
(Antonidze, 2010). However a regional supra-national level
legal instrument could harmonize approaches and interpreta-
tions (Abaza et al., 2011), fill gap in national legal frameworks,
strengthen institutions in place or emerging and finally
rationalise efforts towards sustainable coastal management
(Rochette and Bille, 2012).
A tenet of coastal management policies under a virtually
certain deteriorating erosion regime should be the precau-
tionary control of the location of future development, i.e.
building out of harms way; consequently, set-back policies,
i.e. policies to create a buffer zone behind the retreating
coastlines, are now considered in many coastal management
regulation instruments (e.g. national instruments, the ICZM
Protocol to the Barcelona Convention). However, there are
certain challenges to demarcate set-backs, particularly
under changing environmental conditions. These challenges
can be only addressed by sound policies that include
evaluative criteria and decisions that are both dynamic
and transparent.
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12 environmental science & policy xxx (2014) xxxxxx
In this context, the results of the present study form a
significant step forward, as they may provide the nucleus of
an effective system of relevant data and tool sharing platform.
Nevertheless, the implications of the designing and imple-
menting provisions relevant to coastal setbacks are likely to
vary depending on the management settings of the different
Black Sea States; this was also one of the critical issues faced
during the negotiations leading to the approval of the final text
of the Mediterranean ICZM Protocol (Sano` et al., 2011).
Finally, the management planning of the Black Sea coast
requires a thorough understanding of the drivers for change
(i.e. climatic changes, urban development, social pressures
and the environment), together with an assessment of the
useful life of the existing coastal defences (dominant in some
coastal sections, see Section 4.1) and other coastal infrastruc-
ture. Coastal management planning should better anticipate
and prevent coastal erosion threat incorporating projections
of coastline retreat useful for spatial and contingency plans
rather than fighting against nature with unsustainable and
expensive coastal engineering works (Abaza et al., 2011).
Depending on the SLR scenario, various types of measures
may be considered, including beach nourishment and/or
construction of hard coastal defences. However, it should be
kept in mind that hard coastal defences may transform
morphologically dynamic coasts into petrified coastal land-
scapes with a lower potential to respond/adapt to further
environmental changes, such as those in the sea level and the
wave regime; this will decrease both resilience and the
adaptation potential of the Black Sea beaches. In such cases,
there will be no way back, as beach morphodynamics cannot
be re-introduced without exposing coastal communities and
ecosystems to sea flooding; thus, the Black Sea coastal zone
will be committed to continuing and ever-increasing depen-
dency on coastal erosion/flood defences, as changing envi-
ronmental conditions will require regular infrastructure
upgrading. Therefore, effective, efficient and integrated
adaptation measures that take into consideration the above
issues should be planned and implemented without delay; ad
hoc measures are likely to create a complicated and difficult to
manage system and, ultimately, increase adaptation costs.
6. Conclusions
The present study represents the first comprehensive attempt
to record all Black Sea beaches and provide a rapid assessment
of their erosion risk under different scenarios of SLR. Using an
approach that is based on the digitisation of freely available
remote-sensed images on the web, information on the spatial
characteristics and other attributes (e.g. sediment type,
presence of coastal defences, urban development) of all Black
Sea beaches has been assembled. These data were stored and
made available through the enviroGRIDS and PEGASO Spatial
Data Infrastructures, allowing spatial queries, visualisation
and data sharing.
In order to assess the erosion risk of the Black Sea beaches,
estimations of the SLR-induced retreat of the Black Sea
beaches have been obtained through an ensemble of six 1-D
analytical and numerical morphodynamic models. More
than 17,000 experiments were carried out using different
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10.1016/j.envsci.2014.07.014
combinations of wave conditions, beach sediment textures
and slopes and 11 scenarios of SLR (up to 2 m) and the means
(best fits) of the lowest and highest projections by the model
ensemble were estimated; these were then compared to the
maximum widths of the Black Sea beaches.
Results show that SLR may have highly significant impacts
on the Black Sea beaches. Projections suggest that, in a 0.5 m
SLR scenario, effects are considerable with about 56% of all
beaches projected to retreat by up to 50% of their maximum
width, if the high mean of the ensemble projections is
considered. For a 0.82 m SLR (the high IPCC estimate for
2100), 76% of the Black Sea beaches are projected to retreat by
up to 50% of their maximum widths and about 41% of all
beaches to retreat by their maximum width, whereas for 1 m
SLR about 50% of all Black Sea beaches are projected to retreat
by their maximum width (drowned or shifted landward), if the
high mean of the model ensemble projections is used. As these
results refer only to the effects of SLR and do not take into
account impacts from the diminishing coastal sediment
supply, the increased vulnerability of coasts associated with
inlets, limans and lagoons and the effects of storm groups,
they are considered to be conservative. Our results indicate
beach erosion as a major environmental problem along the
Black Sea coast, which therefore needs to be taken into
account in any future coastal management plans, as a matter
of urgency.
The results of the present study (database and projections)
could assist Black Sea coastal managers and policy makers to
rapidly identify beaches with increased risk of erosion,
evaluate accordingly coastal assets and infrastructure, esti-
mate beach capacity for touristic development purposes, and
rapidly assess direct and indirect costs and benefits of beach
protection options. They will also provide the necessary inputs
to advance discussions relevant to the integrated coastal zone
management of the Black Sea.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support
from European Commission Seventh Framework Pro-
gramme that funded the enviroGRIDS project (Grant Agree-
ment no. 227640) and the PEGASO project (Grant Agreement
no. 244170). Authors IM and AFV also acknowledge the support
of the European Social Fund and Greek Funds through the
National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) Research
Project: THALES-ISLA Physical and socioeconomic impacts
of sea level rise on the Aegean Archipelago.
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